On Gandhi Jayanti Day, Dr. Aarathi Kasturi Raj won a bronze medal in the 3000 m relay at the Asian Games in China, although she lost in the skating individual event. The 29-year-old doctor from Chennai is a curious combination of a healer by day and skater by night. Aarathi, who completed a Master’s degree in clinical embryology last year, said it was an arduous challenge to juggle sports and studies. In 2022, after she finished her Masters, she took a break to train for the Asian Games.
Some days, she would still visit the hospital her mother, an obstetrician and gynecologist, owns. Although academics were her priority, her passion for skating always drove her. Aarathi was just 7 when her tryst with skating began. She saw some kids skating near her home while she was taking a stroll in a park nearby with her mother. It was love at first sight. She became passionate about the game, and her parents encouraged her.
Aarathi had to prepare for her Masters and give trials for the Asian Games simultaneously. “Where there is will, there is a way.” So, skating became her passion. Aarathi came seventh in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia in the individual skating race. Dr. Aarathi is married to Tamil Nadu and India’s ‘A’ medium pacer, Sandeep Warrier. He was very happy to know about her success. Thus, juggling medicine and skates have become a part and parcel of her life.
At the moment, she has the Asian Championship in 3 weeks. Dr. Aarathi has become an icon for multitasking. Her Indian coach, Satya Moorthy, is all praise for her dedication to skating. She was lucky to get a coach named Ferro from Belgium last year. Dr. Aarathi’s hard work, combined with the tactical strategy of her coaches, was rewarded by a bronze medal at Hangzhou, China. The Bhagavad Gita says that Yoga is Excellence in one’s chosen field: Yogah karma sutra kaushalam.
Dr. Aarathi will be pursuing both medicine and skating in the future with equal zeal. The other members of her women’s speed skating 3km relay in Hangzhou were: Karthika Jagadeeswran and Heeral Sadhu.
